The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a bill for a proposed farmers’ pension fund, which, if passed by the Legislative Yuan, could raise farmers’ monthly pension payments to NT$26,000.

The system would be based on the labor pension model, meaning that farmers and the government would allocate an equal amount of money into a dedicated fund every month, Department of Farmers’ Service Director-General Chen Chun-yen (陳俊言) told a news conference in Taipei.

The proposal was born from President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy to better protect farmers and out of discussions at the National Agricultural Conference to improve the financial security of retired farmers, he said.

Under the proposed system, farmers would deposit between NT$238 and NT$1,428, or 1 to 6 percent of the minimum monthly wage, in a dedicated account every month, and the Council of Agriculture would make a matching deposit, he said.